In the online retail market, online retailers will often offer products from one or more manufacturers. Additionally, some online retailers may use unused space on a network page for advertisement (or other) purposes of third parties who may or may not offer goods through the online retailer. As a nonlimiting example, if a business wishes to place an advertisement on the network site of the online retailer (or otherwise conduct business with the online retailer), the business may contact the online retailer for this purpose. Similarly, the online retailer may employ sales people to facilitate sales of advertisement space on the network site of the online retailer. Once an agreement for advertising on the network site of the online retailer is reached (or otherwise conducting business), the advertiser may send advertisement computer code to the online retailer that will be incorporated on the network site according to the terms agreed upon by the third party and the online retailer.
While the use of this space for third party advertisements may generate additional revenue for the online retailer, the online retailer may be at risk for nefarious activity, such as malware or other harmful code that is embedded in the advertisement code. Among other results, this code may be harmful to online shoppers and/or others that access the online retailer network site.